Entertainment

Be the wizard you've always known you were with this VR game

In our Harry Potter-obsessed generation, who hasn't wanted to hurl spells at their foes with the flick of their hands?

That's the promise of The Unspoken, an upcoming virtual reality title from Insomniac Games. You play a magician climbing their way through the hidden underground of Chicago — in a world where magic is real, but not everyone has access to it.

The Unspoken is inspired by urban magic fantasies, including books like Lev Grossman's Magician trilogy. Your character starts as a simple spellcaster, but learns more powerful spells as they are inducted into the mysterious secret society of the The Unspoken.

The Oculus Rift game (which is being published by Oculus Studios) relies on the Oculus Touch controllers, which will be out later this year. Those controllers will let users cast a variety of spells with their hands as they face off one-on-one against another player.

"We want spell casting to feel like something you can practice and get good at," said Insomniac Games Studio Director Chad Dezern. "It's the combination of the physical actions of a fighting game with the dynamic movement of a shooter. You'll get good at timing and more precise movement as you work at spells."

Image: Insomniac games

Dezern said those spells include drawing glyphs in the air, tossing fireballs, even folding a sheet of magic paper into an elaborate airplane — then launching it at your opponent.

"We want the feeling of a magicians' duel. You'd one-up another player as the match escalates, and it culminates in you summoning something huge and attacking them," Dezern said.

Since the Oculus Touch controllers track your hands inside VR, Dezern said it was the first time the team felt like they were really playing against another person in virtual reality.

"We knew we really had something the first time I really saw someone give a dirty look in VR, because you see the way his body was presented."

The Unspoken will be an Oculus Rift exclusive title, and comes out "Holiday 2016."

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